Options Trading News

Sony has been trying to make a comeback in recent months, and traders appear to be turning positive on the name after long leaving it for dead.

optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker detected the purchase of 2,257 March 14 calls in volume above the previous open interest. Premiums rose from $1.50 to $1.65 as the stock climbed off its session low of $15.39.

More impressive from a volume standpoint were nearly 20,000 puts that were sold in the January 13 contracts, led by two blocks of 9,800, 4,200, 3,000, and 2,200 that all went for $0.85. These are clearly new positions, as the open interest in that strike was 2,028 contracts before the session began.

The once-mighty electronics manufacturer has been struggling for years, but traders may have renewed hope after the company announced last weekend that longtime chairman Howard Stringer is resigning. Sony is also pinning its hopes on the release of the long-awaited PlayStation 4 this year.

SNE is down 1.8 percent to $15.67 in afternoon trading, one session after breaching the $16 mark for the first time since early May of last year despite missing earnings forecasts on Feb. 7. That means that many of those March 14 long calls, which expire at the end of this week, are already slightly profitable.

The January put selling, meanwhile, is looking for the stock to stay above $13 through expiration early next year. If SNE falls below that strike price, the traders will face the obligation to buy shares at that level. (See our Education section)

Total option volume in SNE is already exceeded 34,000 contracts, more than 9 times its full-session average for the last month.

The other Greeks (Gamma, Vega, and Theta) are calculated by using month and strike data, and not by individual option. These are called strike-based Greeks. Gamma, Theta, and Vega are all strike-based Greeks

optionMONSTER® provides stock market insight, advanced options education, and actionable trade ideas to meet the needs of do-it-yourself investors. After spending decades in the trading pits of Chicago, Jon 'DRJ' and Pete Najarian founded the company in 2005 to help people better manage their own investment portfolios.